Stanley on probation for 100-mile chase

A Fort Belknap man who led law enforcement on a chase from Havre to Shelby will spend five years under state custody and has to pay nearly $11,000 in restitution.

Kyle David Stanley, born in 1994, pleaded guilty last month to charges of criminal endangerment, a felony, and a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence. Under the plea agreement, the prosecution dropped charges of theft, a felony, and misdemeanor counts of fleeing from peace officers, criminal possession of marijuana and speeding.

This week, state District Judge Dan Boucher sentenced Stanley to five years, all suspended, on the felony and to six months on the DUI, with credit for 220 days served.

He ordered Stanley to pay restitution of $479.50 to the Toole County Sheriff’s Office and $10,026.03 to Nationwide Insurance, plus a 10 percent administrative fee. He also ordered Stanley to pay $205 in fees and surcharges, and imposed a $350 fine for the DUI, which was paid by credit for time served.

Boucher said the sentence is appropriate because, although it is Stanley’s first felony offense, his actions caused substantial danger to the public so it is appropriate it remain on his record.

If Boucher had imposed a deferred imposition of sentence, Stanley would have had a chance to remove the felony from his record if he abided by all rules of probation.

Boucher also said the probationary sentence is appropriate because Stanley had served a significant time in jail and the probation allows him to meet his financial obligations.

The chase started when a person called Hill County dispatchers at 12:57 a.m. Oct. 15 and reported that a white Ford pickup truck was being driven erratically westbound on U.S. Highway 2 with the headlights turned off.

A Hill County deputy sheriff caught up to the vehicle and turned on his flashing lights to try to perform a traffic stop after seeing the vehicle cross over both the center line and the fog line on the edge of the highway.

Stanley then sped up to 95 mph. A Liberty County deputy sheriff approached from the west to assist and was forced to drive off the road into the barrow pit when the Ford swerved into his eastbound traffic lane. Stanley later told officers he intended to run the deputy off the road.

The Ford slowed to about 70 mph while passing through Chester, then sped back up to 95 mph, until it hit a set of stop-sticks, for puncturing tires, set up outside of Dunkirk, about 5 miles east of Shelby, by Toole County deputy sheriffs and Border Patrol agents.

Stanley drove for about a mile on the rims of the Ford’s punctured tires before pulling over into the ditch at the side of the road, where he was arrested.

The Ford was registered to a resident of Chetek, Wisconsin, who later reported it had been stolen.

A Toole County deputy sheriff administered a sobriety test, and while at the Toole County Detention Center Stanley provided a breath sample and registered a blood alcohol concentration of .0156, almost twice the legal level, the charging document says.

Law enforcement also found two marijuana cigarettes on Stanley.

Stanley told an investigating officer that he and the passenger had noticed the pickup running with the keys in the ignition and got inside and drove off with it.